CyC2018/CS-Notes

A Chinese-language compendium of computer-science interview-prep notes — algorithms, OS, networking, system design, with LeetCode coverage in C++, Java, and Python.

What it is

A long-running personal-notes-turned-public-resource for Chinese software-engineering candidates preparing for technical interviews at major tech companies. Coverage spans data structures, algorithms, operating systems, computer networking, system design, and an extensive LeetCode-solutions track in multiple languages. The repo's primary audience is Chinese-speaking; English support is limited. Site at cyc2018.xyz provides an HTML rendering of the same content.

Key features

Computer-science fundamentals (OS, networking, databases, system design) written as study notes.
LeetCode solutions catalogued by problem with implementations in C++, Java, and Python.
Companion site at cyc2018.xyz that reformats the markdown into a browsable book layout.
Ranked among the top GitHub repositories globally (gitstar-ranking position #13 per the README badges).
Chinese-language primary; some material has been forked into English translations elsewhere.

Tech stack

Markdown content; no code project at the root.
The cyc2018.xyz site is a separately-hosted book renderer.

When to reach for it

You're a Chinese-speaking candidate preparing for tech-company interviews and want a curated notes corpus.
You're studying LeetCode systematically and want a reference with multi-language solutions.
You're a researcher analyzing the Chinese tech-interview-prep ecosystem and want the canonical reference.

When not to reach for it

You're not comfortable reading Chinese — the content is not auto-translated.
You want recent material on AI/ML or modern frontend — the notes' depth concentrates on classical CS fundamentals.
You need a license-clean reference — there's no LICENSE in this repo, so downstream redistribution lacks legal grounding.

Maturity signal

184k stars, 51k forks — top-tier reach within Chinese developer community. Last push August 2024 puts this in dormant tier; the author's center of gravity has shifted off-repo (cyc2018.xyz remains live but the GitHub-side updates have slowed). CS fundamentals age well; LeetCode catalogues age less well as new problems are added upstream. Open-issues count of 196 is moderate, with most being correction/translation requests.

Alternatives

donnemartin/system-design-primer — use when you want the canonical English-language system-design study guide.
jwasham/coding-interview-university — use when you want an English-language full study plan with sequencing.
labuladong/fucking-algorithm (labuladong/labuladong.online) — use when you want an active Chinese-language algorithm-pattern guide.

Notes

License absence is the most important non-obvious fact — anyone re-indexing or training on this content should treat the author's copyright as preserved by default. The dormancy isn't archive-grade abandonment; it's the typical pattern for a personal-notes repo whose maintainer has moved focus elsewhere. The companion site is the recommended reading surface; the GitHub repo is best treated as the source-of-truth checkpoint.

Wiki: CyC2018/CS-Notes